CHAPTER 219, PUBLIC ACTS OF 

1913- 

lAn Act concerning the Elec¬ 
tion of Senators and Repre- 
I sentatives in the Congress 
! of the United States and 
other Officials. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House 
of Representatives in General 
Assembly convened: 

Section i. A senator in congress 
shall be elected by the electors of the 
state in the years 1914, 1916, 1920, 1922, 
1926, and 1928, as determined by the 
constitution of the United States, and in 
any subsequent years occurring next be¬ 
fore the expiration of the term of a 
senator in congress, and in any other 
year when the governor shall issue writs 
of election to fill a vacancy in the office 
of senator in congress. 

Sec. 2. Section 1632 of the general 
statutes as amended by section one of 
chapter 263 of the public acts of 1911 
is hereby amended to read as follows: 





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All ballots used at elections held on the 
Tuesday after the first Monday in No¬ 
vember and at all special elections held 
for the purpose of electing officers voted 
for on said day shall be prepared by the 
secretary of the state and printed at the 
expense of the state. All ballots used at 
all regular town, city, and borough 
elections, and at all special electors’ meet¬ 
ings held for the purpose of electing 
officers voted for at such elections, shall 
be printed by the secretary of the state 
at the expense of the town, city, or 
borough for which such ballots are pre¬ 
pared. All such ballots shall be printed 
on plain white paper of uniform color, 
quality, and thickness for each ballot of 
the same class, to be determined by said 
secretary. In addition to the official 
endorsement which shall appear on the 
back thereof, all ballots shall contain a 
list of the candidates of the several 
political parties, which shall be printed 
in parallel columns. Each column shall 
be headed by the name of such party, 
and shall be arranged in such order as 
the secretary may direct, precedence be¬ 
ing given to the party which polled the 
highest number of votes for governor 
at the last preceding general election for 
such office, and so on. The number of 
such columns shall exceed by one the 

D. of D. 

MAY 25 '1916 


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number of separate tickets of candidates 
to be voted for at the polling place for 
which the ballot is provided. The title 
of the office, with the names of the can¬ 
didates therefor, shall be printed in a 
space one-half inch in depth and at least 
two inches in width, defined by light hori¬ 
zontal lines, with a blank space on the 
left thereof one-fourth of an inch wide 
enclosed on both sides by heavier dark 
lines, which space shall be known as the 
voting space, and shall be of the same 
depth as the space containing the title 
of the office and the name of the candi¬ 
date. When two or more persons are to 
be voted for for the same office and for 
the same term, on the same party ticket, 
the title of the office shall be printed in 
the first space only. On the right of 
each ballot shall be a column in which 
shall be printed only the titles of the 
offices for which candidates may be 
voted for by electors at the polling place 
for which the ballot is printed. Such 
column shall be designated as “ blank 
column and in such column the voting 
spaces shall be omitted, but in all other 
respects such blank column shall be a 
duplicate of the political party column 
upon each ballot. Where electors of 
president and vice-president are to be 
voted for, the title printed over the 


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names of the candidates therefor shall 
read electors of president and vice- 
president ’’ and when a senator in con¬ 
gress is to be voted for, the title printed 
over the name of the candidate therefor 
shall read “ United States senator ”, and 
shall be placed on the ballot next before 
the words “ representative in congress ”, 
and where a district representative in 
congress is to be voted for, the title of 
that office shall read ‘‘ representative in 
congress ”, and where state officers are 
to be voted for, the title of those officers 
shall read “ governor ”, lieutenant-gov¬ 
ernor ”, “ secretary ”, “ treasurer ”, 

‘‘ comptroller ”, and “ attorney-general ”, 
respectively, and where other officers are 
to be voted for, the titles of the officers 
shall be described as they are respectively 
described in the constitution of this state, 
or if not therein mentioned, their titles 
shall be described as they are respective¬ 
ly described in the statutes which create 
them. The titles of the officers voted 
for and the names of the candidates 
shall be printed upon the face of the 
ballots in black ink and in type of uni¬ 
form size and style. The name of the 
party shall be in larger type than that 
used for printing the titles of the officers 
and the names of the candidates, the 
sizes and style of which type shall be the 


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same throughout the ballot, and shall be 
prescribed by the secretary not less than 
thirty nor more than sixty days before 
any election held under these provisions, 
provided voting machines may be used 
in all towns, cities, and boroughs accord¬ 
ing to law. 

Sec. 3. Section 1663 of the general 
statutes as amended by section twenty of 
chapter 250 of the public acts of 1909 is 
hereby amended to read as follows: The 
presiding officer of every electors’ meet¬ 
ing at which candidates for the office of 
presidential electors, governor, lieuten¬ 
ant-governor, secretary, treasurer, comp¬ 
troller, attorney-general, senator in con¬ 
gress, representative in congress, sena¬ 
tor or representative in the general 
assembly, sheriff, or judge of probate, 
are voted for shall make out and return 
to the secretary of the state, with the cer¬ 
tificate that he is required to send to 
said secretary, a statement showing the 
number of ballots counted and returned 
to him by the checkers and counters. 
The secretary shall enter said returns in 
tabular form in books kept by him for 
that purpose, and present a printed re¬ 
port of the same to the general assembly 
at its next session. 

Sec 4. Section 1662 of the general 
statutes is hereby amended to read as 


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folloAVS: The presiding officer of each 
electors’ meeting in every town not di¬ 
vided into voting districts, and each 
presiding officer of the first district in 
all towns divided into voting districts, 
unless otherwise provided by special 
statute, except the towns of Hartford, 
Enfield, Plymouth, New London, and 
Waterbury, the presiding officer of the 
fifth district of Hartford, the presiding 
officer of the second district of Enfield, 
the presiding officer of the second dis¬ 
trict of Plymouth, and the presiding 
officer of the third district of Waterbury 
and New London, shall make out tripli¬ 
cate lists of the votes given in their re¬ 
spective towns for each of the following 
officers: Governor, lieutenant-governor, 
secretary, treasurer, comptroller, attor- 
ney-general, senator in congress, or 
member of the senate of this state, judge 
of probate, sheriff, and representative in 
congress, when said officers are to be 
chosen; also of the votes given for rep¬ 
resentative or representatives to the gen¬ 
eral assembly chosen from such town, 
two of which lists he shall seal and 
deposit in the post office in said town, 
the postage being paid thereon, directed 
to the secretary of the state, one within 
two days, and the other within not less 
than five nor more than ten days after 


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said meeting; and the third he shall de¬ 
liver to the clerk of said town within 
two days after said meeting. 

Sec. 5. In the election for senator in 
congress the person receiving the great¬ 
est number of votes for such office shall 
be declared elected, but if no person has 
a plurality of votes for said office the 
governor may make a temporary appoint¬ 
ment of a senator in congress to serve 
for the ensuing two years unless the gen¬ 
eral assembly shall direct a special elec¬ 
tion for a senator in congress, to be held 
during said period, to fill the vacancy 
occasioned by such failure to elect. 

Sec. 6. Section 1685 of the general 
statutes is hereby amended to read as 
follows: Any elector residing-i in any 
town, who claims that he is aggrieved by 
any ruling of the moderator at any elec¬ 
tion for electors of president and vice- 
president, and for a senator in congress, 
and for representative in congress, or 
either of them, held in his town, or that 
there was a mistake in the count of the 
votes cast at such election for candi¬ 
dates for said electors or representative 
in congress, or either of them, at any 
voting district in his town, may, within 
three days after such election, bring his 
complaint to any judge of the supreme 
court of errors, in which he shall set out 


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in a proper form the claimed errors of 
the moderator, or the claimed errors in 
the count, and such judge of the supreme 
court shall forthwith order a hearing to 
be had upon said complaint, upon a day 
not more than five nor less than three 
days from the making of said order, and 
shall cause notice of not less than three 
nor more than five days to be given to 
any candidate or candidates whose 
election may be afifected by the decision 
upon such hearing, and to any other 
party or parties whom such judge shall 
deem proper parties thereto, of the time 
and place for the hearing upon such 
complaint; and such judge with two 
other judges of the supreme court to be 
designated by the chief justice of said 
court, or. in case of his inability, by the 
judge of the supreme court to whom 
such application is made, shall, on the 
day fixed for said hearing, and without 
unnecessary delay, proceed to hear the 
parties, and, if sufficient reason be shown, 
they may order any ballot boxes to be 
opened and a recount of the ballots cast 
to be made, and they shall thereupon, in 
case they, or any two of them, find any 
error in the rulings of the moderator or 
any mistake in the count of said votes, 
certify the result of their finding or 
decision, or the finding or decision of a 


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majority of them, to the secretary of the 
state before the Monday before the last 
Wednesday of the month in which such 
elections are held; and such certificate of 
said judges, or a majority of them, shall 
be final upon all questions relating to the 
rulings of said moderators, and to the 
correctness of said count, and shall 
operate to correct the returns of such 
moderators or presiding officers, so as 
to conform to such finding or decision. 

Sec. 7, Section 1687 of the general 
statutes is hereby amended to read as 
follows: In case of a vacancy in the 
office of senator in congress or in the 
office of representative in congress from 
any district the governor, except as 
otherwise provided by law, shall issue 
writs of election, directed to those 
officials whose duty it shall be to warn 
electors’ meetings in the vacant district 
or in the state at large, as the case may 
be, ordering an election to be held on a 
day named, to fill such vacancy, and 
cause them to be conveyed to the sheriffs 
of the counties composing such districts, 
who shall forthwith transmit them to 
said officials who on receiving said writs 
shall warn electors’ meetings to be held 
on the day appointed therein in the same 
manner as biennial electors’ meetings 
are warned, which meetings shall be 


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organized, conducted, and proceeded 
with as biennial electors’ meetings, and 
said ballots shall be counted and the vote 
declared, certified, directed, deposited, 
returned, and transmitted in the same 
manner as at a biennial electors’ meet¬ 
ing. 

Sec. 8. Section 1689 of the general 
statutes is hereby amended to read as 
follows: The votes returned as cast for 
a senator in congress, representatives in 
congress, and electors of president and 
vice-president of the United States shall 
be publicly counted by the treasurer, sec¬ 
retary, and comptroller on the last 
Wednesday of the month in which they 
were cast, and said votes shall be counted 
in conformity to any decision rendered 
by the judges of the supreme court of 
errors as provided in section six, and in 
accordance with the count so made they 
shall, on said day, declare what persons 
are elected senators in the congress of 
the United States or representatives in 
congress, and they shall declare the 
proper number of persons having the 
greatest number of votes to be electors 
of president and vice-president of the 
United States, and, in case of an equal 
vote for said electors shall determine by 
lot from the persons having such equal 
number of votes the person or persons 


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appointed, and shall publish the names 
of the persons appointed said electors in 
two newspapers published in Hartford, 
and immediately notify them by mail of 
their appointment. 

Sec. 9. Section 86 of the general 
statutes is hereby amended to read as 
follows: Whan any senator in congress 
has been duly elected, the governor shall 
certify his election under the seal of the 
state to the president of the senate of 
the United States, which certificate shall 
be countersigned by the secretary. 

Sec. 10. This act shall not take 
efifect unless the amendment proposed by 
congress to the constitution of the United 
States providing that senators shall be 
elected by the people of the several 
states, is duly ratified and proclaimed, 
but in case of such ratification, and due 
proclamation by authority of the United 
States, before the date fixed by law for 
the taking efifect of the acts passed at 
this session, when not otherwise therein 
provided, it shall take efifect at that date, 
but if such proclamation shall be issued 
after that date this act shall take efifect 
sixty days after the date of said procla¬ 
mation. 

Approved, June 6, 1913. 










